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Calendar: Hikes on the Potomac Heritage Trail

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Potomac River from Chain Bridge looking west

Photo credit: Trail Voice

The Potomac Heritage Trail is a relatively new resource to the DC area that deserves a full Natural Capital write-up sometime in the near future. In the meantime, there are two hikes on the trail this Sunday (3/21). They get bonus points for starting from Roosevelt Island, which is accessible from the Rosslyn Metro (see our directions here).

Roosevelt Island to the Chain Bridge & Back – A 9 mile route with folks from the Sierra Club following the Potomac Heritage Trail out, and the C&O Towpath back, stopping for lunch at Clyde’s in Georgetown and then back to Roosevelt Island.

Potomac Heritage Trail – Also on Sunday, also leaving from Roosevelt Island, but with the Center Hiking Club, and about 45 minutes after the Sierra Club folks. This will be an 11-12 mile hike stopping for lunch at one of DC’s Civil War forts.

See our full calendar for full details and RSVP info, or for the many, many great sounding trips and classes this week. And don’t forget about the Environmental Film Festival!

Like the photo in this post? Mouse over for credits; a click takes you to the photographer on Flickr.

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LABELS: EVENTS

FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010

LOOK FOR: Fairy Spuds, More Commonly Known as Spring Beauties

Photo credit: PIWO

Spring beauties are not a showy flower, but we find their little blooms dainty and adorable. They’re one of the first to bloom among the flowers called spring ephemerals: perennial flowers that emerge every spring on the forest floor, before the trees leaf out, then fade into the background (or die back entirely to the ground) until next spring. They’re also one of the longer-lasting blooms, so you’ve got a wider window of opportunity to find them.

We actually start looking for spring beauties in January. Not the flowers, but the little leaves. They’re skinny like a little blade of grass, but more succulent — spring beauties are actually related to purslane. (And like purslane, the leaves are edible.)

Photo credit: Cowtools

By mid-March, the spring beauties are blooming. The flowers are small (maybe 3/4″ wide) and low to the ground — the entire plant usually doesn’t grow any taller than 4 to 6 inches. At any other time of year, they’d be easy to overlook. In early spring, though, they’re a major part of the show before other things start blooming.

The flowers have 5 petals that can be white or light pink. If you look closely, you’ll see they’re candy-striped with thin pink lines pointing to the center of the flower. And just in case that doesn’t tip off the pollinators well enough, the center opening of the flower is highlighted with little yellow spots.

Watch for how the flowers react to the weather. On a sunny day, they’ll open wide. But with clouds, the petals fold back up and wait for better weather. It’s another thing we love about these plants.

Photo credit: cyanocorax

By early summer, the flowers and leaves of spring beauty will shrivel up and die back to the ground. But several inches below the ground, the plant is storing energy for next spring in a little corm that can be as much as 6 inches underground. We’ve heard these tubers called fairy spuds — they’re starchy and edible when cooked, but each one is tiny. It would take an awful lot of energy to dig up enough fairy spuds to make any kind of meal. But apparently Native Americans and early colonists found them excellent.

We’ve tried a few fairy spuds from our yard — but I think I prefer to see the flowers.

Photo credit: jbaker5

In the woods: Spring beauties can be prolific where they’re not overgrazed by deer. We’ve come across areas that are carpeted with them. They’ll bloom first on slopes that face south.

In your yard: We love the spring beauties we’ve planted in a shady spot in our backyard. They’re a great reminder to get out into the woods and see what else is coming up.

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LABELS: PLANTS – MARCH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010

In pictures: Waiting for Spring

Spring is coming, I promise. But this week folks were still posting pictures of late winter.

Recent Posts

The Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak August 11-14. The moon will be a waning crescent that comes up just before sunrise, so there should be dark skies. We just have to fight the haze and clouds of August humidity. The best time to look is in the wee hours of the morning, but you could see meteors at any time after about 9 PM.

In August we often see hummingbirds in our yard nearly every day. What a treat to watch them go from hovering in mid-air, to zipping away, fast as lightning.